Master of Education (Innovation and Change)

This subject provides students with an opportunity to plan and carry out a small-scale, self-study project within one trimester of study. Students will design a project around an issue or problem relating to their current professional practice, and implement this project with a focus on achieving positive change in their own practice. In designing and implementing their projects, students will draw on their learning across all other subjects within this program, linking theory to practice and applying their understandings relating to processes and technologies that support innovation in education.

This subject challenges students to engage with a diverse range of educational technologies, with a view to critically examining the relevance and application of such technologies within their professional context. More broadly, students will engage critically with the discourses surrounding technologies in education, refining their skills of critique and analysis to articulate the principles through which educators might make informed decisions about the effectiveness and appropriateness of specific technologies for learning. The subject will provide students with the opportunity to consider specific technologies that are relevant for their professional setting, for example technologies to engage students with Autism, and/or technologies relevant to the teaching of particular disciplines.

In this subject students will analyse a variety of examples of innovative educational practice (including, for example, practices relating to the support of students with additional educational needs), critically examine the meaning of innovation and debate whether innovation can be quantified and measured. Students will be supported to identify problems/issues within education practice and will utilise tools and thinking processes designed to assist in the generation of innovative solutions. Finally, students will explore evaluation methodology as a means of analysing innovation outcomes relevant to their professional context in a systematic way.

Design thinking is an approach to innovation that involves identifying ‘problems’ or issues in a particular context, considering those who have a stake in these problems/issues, and designing a range of possible solutions that are then tested and refined in practice. In this subject, students will explore the concepts and processes of design thinking, including the origins of design thinking and its use across a range of disciplines and contexts. Following these general processes, students will then engage in a design thinking process to identify and address an issue within their own professional context. Through this design thinking process, students will engage in reflection and analysis of their professional skills, knowledge, and judgement, and ultimately arrive at an advanced understanding of their roles as innovators and leaders in education.